''White Wilderness'' is a 1958 nature documentary film produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. It is noted for its propagation of the misconception of lemming mass suicide. The film was directed by James Algar and narrated by

Winston Hibler Winston Murray Hunt Hibler (October 8, 1910 – August 8, 1976) was an American screenwriter, film producer, director and narrator associated with Walt Disney Studios. Biography and career Hibler was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Octob ...

. It was filmed on location in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

over the course of three years. It won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and the Golden Bear for Best Documentary in the 1959 Berlin Film Festival.

Reception

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote "Mr. Disney has assembled a fine, often fascinating color documentary on animal life in the North American Arctic". Geoffrey Warren of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' stated: "Walt Disney has turned again to Nature for adventure and profit. With 'White Wilderness' the master of unusual entertainment has struck pure gold, for this is probably the best of his many true-to-life films". '' Variety'' called the film "a fascinating screen experience. Filmed in awesome detail in the icy wastes of the Arctic, where struggle for existence is savage and cruel, this feature is one of the most spectacular of Walt Disney's 'True-Life Adventure' series, and as such can expect handsome returns from its particular market". ''

Harrison's Reports ''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher ...

'' declared: "From the opening to the closing scenes, one is held enthralled by the truly remarkable shots of polar region wild life, both large and small, made all the more interesting by the fine Technicolor photography, the clever editing and the appropriate background music, which heighten both the comic and dramatic aspects of the different scenes". '' The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "The familiar music score, production tricks, anthropomorphic humours and human-angle narration are again in evidence. The basic material, however, remains enthralling; in the case of lemmings and wolverines possibly unique".

Controversy

''White Wilderness'' contains a scene that supposedly depicts a mass lemming migration, and ends with the lemmings leaping into the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

. The narrator of the film states that the lemmings are likely not committing suicide, but rather are in the course of migrating, and upon encountering a body of water are attempting to cross it. If the body of water the lemmings encounter is too wide, they can suffer exhaustion and drown as a result. In 1982, the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

news magazine program '' The Fifth Estate'' broadcast a documentary about animal cruelty in Hollywood called "Cruel Camera", focusing on ''White Wilderness'', as well as the television program ''

Wild Kingdom ''Wild Kingdom'', also known as ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'', is an American documentary television program that features wildlife and nature. It was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and it was revived in 2002. The show's second ...

''.

Bob McKeown Robert Duff McKeown, (; born October 10, 1950) is a Canadian investigative reporter and former all-star and championship football player. He has also worked with NBC and CBS. McKeown returned to the CBC in November 2002 to host its investiga ...

, the host of the CBC program, discovered that the lemming scene was filmed at the Bow River near downtown

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, and not in the Arctic Ocean as implied by the film. McKeown interviewed a lemming expert, who claimed that the particular species of lemming shown in the film is not known to migrate, much less commit mass suicide. In fact, the lemmings were transported to the location, jostled on turntables, and thrown off a cliff after which the footage was edited. Additionally, he revealed that footage of a

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

cub falling down an Arctic ice slope was really filmed in a Calgary film studio. It remains unknown whether or not

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

was aware or approved of this practice.

In popular culture

''White Wilderness'' was the inspiration for the 1986

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

song " Potshot Heard Round the World". The scene of lemmings leaping off a cliff in ''White Wilderness'' was used as political metaphor in a campaign ad promoting Andrew Monroe Rice, an Oklahoma candidate in the 2008 US Senate race. A scene in the 2014 animated film '' Penguins of Madagascar'' parodies the controversy surrounding ''White Wilderness.''

References

External links

* * * * * {{AcademyAwardBestDocumentaryFeature1942-1960 1958 films English-language Canadian films Disney documentary films American documentary films Canadian documentary films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Documentary films about nature Films directed by James Algar Films produced by Ben Sharpsteen Films produced by Walt Disney Films shot in Canada Animal cruelty incidents in film Film controversies Disney controversies 1958 documentary films Films scored by Oliver Wallace Walt Disney Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films 1950s Canadian films

Reception

Controversy

In popular culture

See also

References

External links